Last Sunday I travelled down to Salem, Oregon to perform for The Kroc Center’s staff Christmas party. The history: in January 2004, McDonald’s heiress Joan Kroc left a gift of $1.5 billion to The Salvation Army to build and help operate corps community centers across the country. The Salvation Army in Salem was awarded a portion of the Ray and Joan Kroc gift to build and operate The Kroc Center in Salem.
I met The Kroc’s event planner, Liz, last year while performing for another company party coordinated by Class Act Event Coordinators in Salem. She liked what I did and wanted to have me back for her Christmas banquet.
It’s hard to describe what The Kroc Center is. It’s like the YMCA, on steroids. Swimming pool, check. Play pool with waterslides, check. Climbing wall, got it. NBA basketball court. Here’s where it gets different: it has a church. And a theater. An outdoor amphitheatre. Computer lab, game room, and daycare. This is
a fantastic community resource, and I really wanted to just walk around and tour the place.
A good time was had by all, and a few folks were nice enough to share wonderful audio testimonials from my show.